The Universe Beyond
by Doctor Icy Glaceon
Summary: The Toad Brigade has continued traveling the universe after assisting Mario. However, this will become the path to more than they bargained for, and the little bravery they have will be put to the ultimate test. Rating may change in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1, A Brigade in the Stars

**Chapter 1, A Brigade in the Stars**

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><p>The amazing thing about the universe is just how, well, huge it is. No matter how long you can fly a Starshroom through it, it never ends. In that sense, it's almost like something out of a nightmare. Everything out there is either suffering through sweltering heat or frozen in a permanent state of extreme cold. Being just an ordinary Toad, it's an endless sea, seemingly without any purpose aside from deterring explorers. However, each little nook and cranny of the universe is actually teeming with life not much unlike that of my Mushroom Kingdom homeland. While so vastly mysterious and foreign, the nebulae and stars drew me in with their bursts of light and color. …It almost felt as though the universe itself were comforting me! Somehow, from the moment I was carelessly thrust into this nearly-empty world, I knew that uncovering whatever amazing secrets the hostile environment has carefully hidden from the Mushroom World would be the destiny I made for myself!<p>

At least, I'd felt this way while with Mario and the Lumas. When my crew and I traveled for days on end just before the outset of our adventure, it was just a giant void filled with nothing of importance that left me with a horrid fear of whether we'd ever find another galaxy.

"Hey, Captain!" I heard a voice over my shoulder. "Are you just going to stare off into space all day, or are you going to play cards with us?"

"Come ooooon!" Another childish voice resounded in my ears. "Banktoad just took all the star bits I bet!"

I turned from the control deck I had been leaning on and saw that my crew was enjoying a game at the table in the center of the ship. My green-spotted associate, Banktoad, was spinning a Star Bit on his finger with a smile on his face. (No, Banktoad isn't his _actual name_. We were all just unfortunate enough to have our respective parents name us after what color we were, so we gave nicknames as we saw fit.) He motioned in the direction of the playing cards sprawled across the table, and he clearly had more in his possession than poor little Sunshine, the yellow member of our crew. "We just finished our game of Sarasaland Flip!"

A couple of tears started to form in Sunshine's eyes. "I… I… _I saved up those star bits for days, and you just took them!_" His tear ducts burst open, followed by the inevitable bawling characteristic of a sore loser.

Blues, who was clearly blue-spotted from his name, patted Sunshine on the back and heaved a sigh. "You know, you're the one who decided to bet all of them on one game!"

All of a sudden, Sunshine grabbed the purple Mailtoad's shoulder and wailed, "I thought for sure this would be the time! The way you praised how much I've improved, Maily… I wanted to finally beat Banktoad more than **anything!**" He then proceeded to run to one of the windows and bang his fists against the control panel, which we had programmed to only do anything after a password is plugged in. (This hadn't been Sunshine's first breakdown.)

Banktoad, Blues, Mailtoad, and I just looked to each other and shrugged. We all knew Sunny would probably be asleep before too long and forget all about it. After a couple seconds of sitting around the table and shuffling the deck of cards, Mailtoad finally brought up the big question. "So where are we going?"

My stomach contorted as I was painfully reminded of what I had been contemplating earlier. "Uh… Heh heh… Don't worry about it, guys." I had to fight the urge to panic as a warm sensation splashed across my cheeks.

"That's just another way of saying that we're lost, isn't it?" Blues checked the map we'd hastily drawn up of the small section of the universe closest to our home. …It was completely blank except for our home planet, the Mushroom World, and Gateway Galaxy, which we had passed more than a week ago. "Yep, it is, Captain."

"…Now, now! There's no cause for alarm! I just… didn't plan this far ahead!" I waved my hands in front of me, as if it would really prove my point further.

Blues slapped me in the back, and I instantly felt a dull ache that I had a feeling wouldn't go away too soon. "Yeah, right, being lost in the middle of a gigantic vacuum with no planets in sight should _never_ be a cause for alarm!"

He was restrained from assaulting me again by Mailtoad. "Come on, that's no reason to hit him! We should be focusing on finding something!"

Finally, I felt a burden slipping off my shoulders. "No need for any more effort! I've been running our sonar system for hours now! It must have found something!"

However, as I went to check, Blues looked at me with one eyebrow raised beneath his large, round, black glasses. "Sonar…?"

Mailtoad nodded, although he was a bit dejected at the fact that the sonar hadn't picked anything up. "I had it installed back in Toad Town before we left! It uses sound waves to find stuff, and before we know it, there'll be a planet to explore shown right on the screen! Then we won't have to keep bickering! It's Space Sonar! …Pretty cool name, huh?"

Blues put his hand on his forehead and let out a groan. Before I could ask what was wrong, he filled me in. "Both of you _do_ realize that sound waves can't travel through space, right?"

I nearly choked on my own gasp the moment I realized just how incompetent Mailtoad and I just sounded. "**What?** The merchant didn't tell us that! …We're never going to find anything!" Then, I slumped down next to Sunshine, who was still moping over his lost star bits, and suddenly became aware of just how little oxygen and fuel we had left on our Starshroom. I hoped to myself that Sunshine wouldn't see it. The poor guy would flip out…

"Captain?" I turned over to Sunshine as I heard my name. "Is that a comet out there?"

I decided to look and see what he was talking about, and I saw a rather large comet, with its tail facing the opposite direction of the nearest star and its unnatural blue glow. How exactly we hadn't seen it coming from several miles away was unknown to me, but it was probably because we'd been so busy checking our faulty sonar system. Gazing upon it for a couple seconds, I realized that it was a little too familiar, despite never having seen a comet pass by my planet. I pulled out the nearest telescope we had laying around and zoomed in. What I saw was enough to tell precisely what it was.

There was a Luma, a tiny star with beady eyes, barely visible through the burst of colors emanating from the so-called comet. It stared relentlessly, probably having caught a glimpse of our ship, and motioned a bit to the left. Another one floated beside it and joined it in looking out at the cosmos.

Helping myself to a bit of a chuckle, I corrected him in an attempt to make up for how stupid I'd been. "Nah, that's not a comet. It observes comets though. …Hence the fact that it's the Comet Observatory…" I put the telescope back and leaned forward for a moment. "Hey, wait a minute… That's the Comet Observatory! We could replenish our air and fuel there!"

The rest of the crew immediately took notice, and we all crowded around the window. From there we tried to plan ways to catch up with it; since it only passes by any given point in space every hundred years, this could've been our last chance if we hoped to survive.

Banktoad seemed a little impractical. "Maybe we could shine Captain's headlamp through the window! That'd be a good beacon!"

Mine… Eh, it completely would've worked had we used it. "How about we send out a radio signal?"

Sunshine and Mailtoad came up with the last one together, and, well… "What if we could build a giant Luma made out of our ship? Then, they'd be all like, 'Oh, poor Luma!' and accept us as one of their own!" I'm still fully convinced that Mailtoad was just humoring Sunny.

Just then, Blues spoke up, who had oddly not been speaking with us as we discussed plans. "Haven't any of you noticed that the Star Festival honoring its visit to our planet happens over more than one day? Maybe it slows down when it reaches other planets, so in that case we'll just have to follow it."

Sunny started doing one of his trademark happy-dances. "Thanks, Blues! You saved us!"

However, Blues lowered his eyelids and sighed. "Not quite, guys… We're running low on practically everything, and like we've established, there aren't any planets in sight right now. This would be a complete hit or miss, and missing would cost us our lives."

"We can't die! We're the Toad Brigade; the universe can't go on without us!" Banktoad insisted.

While they continued their discussion, I went to the other control panel and planned a course that would keep following the Observatory. It was at this point that I realized how lightheaded I was; the air I'd been breathing in was mostly carbon dioxide at this point since we didn't bother putting in a proper ventilation system. I turned to my crew, got their attention with a shout, and smiled. "Even if we don't make it, we've still done enough to change the universe! Let's just see how this turns out!"

They all nodded: Blues in solemn agreement, Sunshine in pure fear, Banktoad in pride, and Mailtoadin acceptance. I wasn't quite sure what to feel. All I knew was that I didn't want to go out like this, to not be remembered by anybody in the cosmos. The idea of quietly fading away sent a cold sensation up my spine. We continued our journey forward. The Comet Observatory got closer with every second, despite the fact that I couldn't help but feel we were going much slower.

"We just need to get a little closer…!" Blues pushed me out of his way as he took over the control panel and made the Starshroom accelerate, probably exhausting whatever fuel we had left.

As I fell, I could see that my reflection in the window had turned an unsettling blue color. Every cell in my body wanted to just scream and leave, but there was no way out. Our little Starshroom was stuck in a void that was slowly turning black.

And then…

…

…And then…

…

Nothing, coupled with complete darkness.

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><p><em>((Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, so please feel free to offer any advice for improvement you might have! Until next time, may the stars shine down on you!))<em>


	2. Chapter 2, The Lovely Observatory

**Chapter 2, The Lovely Observatory**

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><p>The next thing I could feel was something enveloping me. It was a feeling that I could not adequately describe if I tried, but… Everything was… warm. Inexplicably so. Thoughts twirled in the back of my mind like gears, but each of them were oddly blank, like blank letters arriving in a mailbox. What was going on?<p>

Slowly, I began to regain feeling in each of my limbs. An odd pain began shooting up from my left knee, which was quite small since we toads have stubby legs, and I could hear a faint noise… It sounded like the way sparkling does in cartoons. Sensation flowed back into my head, and I finally began to be able to feel my body parts. Everything seemed fine, save for that sore knee. My eyes flitted open, and revealed unto me…

A purple bed. I'd just spent the last few minutes contemplating a bed.

I managed to pull myself from the mattress and sit up, my eyes scanning back and forth as quickly as they could and my legs slipped carefully under the blankets. (My eyes weren't very fast, given that I had just woken up.) What sort of place was this? There was no trace of anything familiar: my crew, the Starshroom… Not even my own backpack and headlamp! It was just a simple room, with a red rug and a blue star-like object near the ceiling. Yet, I felt oddly tired, despite the fact that I'd probably been out cold. "Now I know how it feels to be Sunshine…" I joked quietly to myself.

"At last, you've woken up! We feared you never would!"

As soon as the subsequent near-heart attack of mine was over, I turned to my right and saw a Luma. Oddly enough, the bright colors typical of Lumas had been replaced with a dark, chocolate-like brown, and the shiny eyes were now bright blue… I realized that this was a Luma familiar to me rather quickly. "Oh, hi, Polari! Wow, it's been forever since I've seen you! …Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Why, the same structure your friends reported trying to chase!" A surprisingly hearty laugh came from the tiny star.

It took a few seconds in the haze I was in after waking up, but I finally managed to put all the pieces together. "Right! The Comet Observatory! …Wait, that means you guys– "

Polari hastily finished my sentence. "Rescued you? Yes, you gave us a scare. Young Master Luma – the one who was always with you and Mario – wanted to help you as much as he could, and you were the first one to pass out, so he let you have this bed. …Also, we do apologize, but we accidentally bumped your knee against the entrance."

_So that's why it hurts so much…_ I rubbed my knee, feeling a slight bump on it. "Where's the rest of the Brigade?"

Another laugh resounded through the room, almost for no reason at all. "They're out near the front of the observatory, waiting for you!"

"Well, I guess I'd better let them know that their captain is down, but not out!" I slipped out of the bed, the cold air of the room overtaking my lower half as it reluctantly left the comfort of the blankets, and left the room with Polari close behind. As I stepped out, I was simply awestruck, and it occurred to me that I had never set foot on the Observatory while it was in motion before. Hues of a billion different colors seemingly streaked across space, and everything was painfully bright. Rainbow Star items had _nothing_ on this sight. I had to pull myself together and shield my eyes as I walked barefoot up a small set of cold stairs and across a soft red carpet. Lumas of all sorts floated around, taking books off the walls surrounding the nearby library and reading with their friends. (Or perhaps siblings? I'm not sure how their family works.)

I finally reached the center of everything: the place where the power of the Grand Stars distributed itself to each part of the observatory. These Grand Stars were recovered by Mario years ago after he had been stranded on the ship. Though I was still shielding my eyes from the light show going on outside, I could hear several sets of footsteps in front of me, and heard the typical greeting I always hear when I return from a dangerous situation…

"Hi, Captain! You had pretty weak lungs back there, huh? Well, at least you didn't run away somehow the way you always do!" I knew for sure that was Blues.

_Way to kick me while I'm down,_ I thought. "What are we going to do now? Sure, our ship is probably good for travel now, but where are we going to go? It's not like there are any nearby galaxies to explore!"

Mailtoad waved his finger. "Well, actually… We're about to pass Gold Leaf Galaxy."

Sunshine stepped in. "It turns out the Comet Observatory was just obscuring it from view, and slowed down a bit since it reached it. Blues's plan turned out to be the answer!"

"Gold Leaf… I don't think we've been there, but that's okay! We'll make sure the entire populace learns of our adventurous exploits as the Toad Brigade! …Assuming they don't want to hurt us." I shied away a little at the thought of a group of roughhousing bad guys. In fact, I imagined them so vividly that I could practically feel their hot breaths brushing against my mushroom cap and their sharp teeth piercing through my arm.

"Oh, c'mon! A couple of that kind of resident could be handled with ease if we had a cannon!" Banktoad patted my back, a smug look materializing across his face. Didn't he realize that there exist creatures that can completely wipe the floor with us?

Polari interrupted us with a spin and motioned us all to the front of the Observatory. "You should speak to our adoptive mother, Rosalina, before you leave for Gold Leaf. Both of us are curious about a number of circumstances surrounding your arrival. Just answer whatever question we might propose."

We all smiled in agreement as we made our way to the front of the Grand Star panel. I had started to get used to the light surrounding the starship, but… _That shimmering blue beacon at the center!_ It felt as though my corneas were being forcibly gouged out with a rusty nail! I immediately swung my hand forward and covered it. Sure, walking with my hand held out in front of me probably made me look like a dork, but at least I kept my eyesight intact.

From what I could see, there appeared to be a floating person nearby, with a light teal dress that gently hovered above the ground and flowing sleeves. A voice reached my ears softly as we stood in front of her. "Thank you for your assistance, Polari. These poor toads must have been through so much."

The aforementioned Luma spoke up, "It was the least I could do." He turned to us and pointed to me. "What were you doing in the middle of space? Mario told us that you had been promoted to Royal Guards."

A strong blush swallowed my cheeks as the memories painfully flooded back into my head. "…Well…" With that, I flashed back to our return from our previous adventure.

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><p>It had been a lovely summer afternoon in the Mushroom Kingdom. The sun served as a beacon, leading the puffiest clouds of the purest white color into the stunning blue sky. A warm, thick atmosphere gripped the soil. Unfortunately, all that was on our collective mind that day was a billion different possibilities of how we could be punished whirling through our heads like bees.<p>

We were Royal Guards at the time; it was perhaps the greatest honor a toad could ever hope to receive. Towering figures with inpenetrable shields and sharp, bloodstained spears were the thoughts most commonly associated with this position, but in reality toads of this status would never dream of harming anyone unless it was for the greater good. Becoming one of these was the dream that every toad in elementary school went to sleep with, sort of like that phase some human kids go through of wanting to be a firefighter or astronaut. On top of that, I even got to be a commander, of all things!

Naturally, we were pretty flustered when we completely bombed preventing the princess from being captured.

Sure, we couldn't have been expected to stand much of a chance against the attack of the fifty-foot Bowser, but we also failed to prevent a panic. Toads were scrambling all over the place, screaming and crying… Actually, with how much they ran into things, they might have caused more property damage than Bowser. Therefore, we treaded down the road to the castle, a horrible feeling rising in my gut as I prepared for the inevitable.

When we reached the bridge just in front of the castle, an elderly brown toad with a wispy white mustache walked carefully across. It was Toadsworth, the grandfather of Princess Peach herself. (Some of us had joked around about him probably being the actual king, since none of us had ever seen someone known as King Toadstool.) His bespectacled, coal-colored eyes had a solemn look, and as soon as he was within earshot of us, he murmured, "A thousand pardons…"

His eyes met ours with a dignified sort of regret. "All five of you are being sacked. Commander Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Purple… There just aren't enough coins left in the kingdom's funds after repairing the damaged buildings to continue to pay this many guards, and your group… To be blunt, it's rarely done anything showing the true qualities of our guard unit."

My heart plummeted about thirty feet below where it was before. _Why us?_I couldn't help but wonder. Everyone else looked despondent, with tears welling up in our eyes and brief, shallow breaths, except for Sunshine, who acted as though nothing was wrong. I leaned over to him and whispered, "Sacked is just another way of saying fired." Before I knew it, he was wailing and running away. For being so cheerful and sleepyheaded most of the time, his spirit sure was easy to break. In this situation, I couldn't really blame him.

The walk back home, amidst the highly inappropriate picturesque sky, felt like the longest I'd ever taken.

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><p>"We got fired." That was the way I decided to sum up our depressing experience. It took all of the effort I could exert not to wince at how much these memories opened up old wounds.<p>

Rosalina stared intently at us with her only eye not buried by light hair, and then asked, "May we ask you to go to Gold Leaf Galaxy on our behalf? You see, something there has been detected as being horribly wrong, but I have to continue watching my family."

"Consider it done!" I saluted them both with the hand I had been using to block out the beacon, and somehow managed not to immediately put it back where it was despite how cripplingly bright it was.

"Your Starshroom is waiting in the garage. After you finish, may you please return here? Something has come up… We'll explain later." Polari pointed to the garage, and we walked across the soft, caressing grass until we reached the garage where our Starshroom had been built. My backpack, headlamp, and shoes were waiting right on top of one of the wooden crates stored there.

A Luma with a red hat flew eagerly to us, sparkles illuminating his path. "Hi, guys! Remember me?"

"How could I forget?" I chuckled. This Luma was a silvery-cream color that shone brightly in the comet's light, and the hat was undoubtedly Mario's. He was the one who had traveled with Mario and then stolen the hat after rushing to return home.

"We fixed everything up just fine, so you should have more than enough oxygen and rocket fuel!" While his face could not express much emotion, I could literally feel him grinning. "Just… Be careful out there, all right? Mama probably didn't tell you this, but there's a massive energy spike happening there right now."

Mailtoad petted the youngster. "Don't worry about us!"

"Um, we should probably get going now." Blues was already inside the Starshroom, having entered through the door at the top. We all followed him and waved goodbye as we bravely ventured toward Gold Leaf Galaxy.

However… The "energy spike" would turn out to be more than we anticipated.

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><p><em>((Author's Note: Things are going to get better next chapter. Also... could you review and tell me what you think? Nobody has reviewed this yet, so I don't know whether it's any good... Whoever does will get a letter with five 1-Up Shrooms from Mailtoad! Anyhow... Until next time, may the stars shine down on you!))<em>


	3. Chapter 3, Gold Leaf's Major Problem

(Warning: This chapter and many that follow will contain mild violence.)

**Chapter 3, Gold Leaf's Major Problem**

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><p>The gentle crunch of autumn leaves under my feet, as well as the persistently pouring rain on this planet, composed a symphony of unnecessary noise as I finally set foot out of the Starshroom. "We're here!" I announced boldly, turning on my headlamp.<p>

"Uh, you think we didn't know?" Blues was the second one to jump down from the door on the roof.

The two of us were chosen to be the first to leave, so we carefully examined everything. The light orange leaves coated the ground, leaving almost no patches of dirt visible save for a beaten path; it was like there was a carpet covering this planet. …Everything seemed completely barren, too. With the amount of vegetation there, we had expected it to actually have a population. It probably did at one point, though. There was a large wooden structure directly above our heads, and flowers with little propellers built into them floating about. _What happened to them?_ I wondered.

Mailtoad, Sunshine, and Banktoad left the ship as soon as Blues gave them the OK. Sunshine fell back into a pile of leaves and twirled around giddily, surprisingly not getting mud all over his vest. "This place must be a never-ending supply of leaf piles!"

Banktoad grabbed his pickax from the Starshroom, wobbling from how heavy it was as the tiny rain droplets slid down its shimmering blade, and prepared himself for some sort of work to busy himself with. "What do you want us to do, Captain?"

"Err… Well…" I hadn't actually thought of that. The request to "go to Gold Leaf Galaxy on Rosalina's behalf" was too vague for me to make much of it. _Why would she have such a demand? Unless… It involves unspeakable horror that she thought might be too much for us!_ I shuddered. "How about this? The four of you go on reconnaissance, and I stay behind and make sure that the air is safe to breathe!"

Blues grabbed my arm. "You're going with us, Captain, no matter what might be wrong here. If you cream your pants, I'll just make you new ones out of leaves."

"Is that any way to treat your leader!" I pushed him away, but when the other three looked on in alarm I just smiled. "…Okay, we're all going on recon."

We treaded down the nearest hill through the soggy piles of leaves, each step soaking our shoes even further and giving me chills, until we reached a giant flower with a long stem and a fluffy purple blossom at the top. It appeared to be stable enough to climb on, and getting to the top would probably give us a better view of the vicinity, but I didn't want to be the one to take the chance. "Anybody want to try climbing on this?"

"I'll do it!" Banktoad stepped up, standing up straight with his arms crossed and his pickax in one hand. He embedded it into the flower and pulled himself up, only to find that the flower started to spin. He whirled around a few times before reaching the top of the actual stem, at which point it nearly touched the ground. Although he opened his mouth to speak, he didn't get a chance to before the flower tossed him and his equipment through the air and onto a higher hill.

We carefully looked over the hill. All that could be seen from where we stood was a towering tree, probably more than a couple dozen feet tall. What lurked beyond? I thought I could see a slight speck of something up above, but it was probably just from me squinting too hard.

"Banktoad! Have you landed safely?" Blues stepped closer to the foot of the hill, an exasperated expression covering his face.

A few seconds passed with nothing happening, which felt like an eternity since we feared what had happened up there. Luckily, we heard an incredibly faint voice from up there. "It's safe! You can use it to get up here, too!"

I found myself being pushed forward by Blues. "Well, I feel that the leader should be the first to follow."

The idea made me wince, but I decided to ignore the feeling of dread and try to stay positive. "Okay. That's… great." I cautiously stepped up to the flower and grabbed the stem with my clammy hands. Raindrops slid down and almost caused my hands to slip, but I tried to thrust my body in a way that would launch me to where Banktoad was. Before I knew it, I was spinning around on the stem, and everything in my vision had degenerated into a cyclone of whirling colors. The wind blew past me as I found myself letting go of the stem and being thrown through the air.

My face met the ground in the most painful way possible. It felt as though a boulder was being flung at my cheek, but I seemed to emerge from the feeling unscathed. I looked to my left and saw Banktoad. "Hi." I waved to him, using my other hand to wipe off the leaves that stuck to my face and vest. After receiving a wave from him and seeing the others planning to follow us, I turned around and saw a massive tree surrounded by a body of water. Basically, it was like a tower with a moat around it, only natural.

As soon as everyone had taken a ride up to where we were, we walked around the large tree. "What sort of tree is this? I've never seen anything like it!" Blues gasped.

We walked for a tiny bit before stumbling upon… a bunny? There was a white bunny with yellow, star-shaped ears behind the tree, with an odd glow to it. The five of us stood for a while, contemplating what the heck it might be, when it actually talked. "…Oh, that's a relief. You're not one of _them,_ boiyoing."

"A talking bunny… _All right._" Blues looked to Mailtoad, who simply shrugged, and then back to the bunny. "Who are you talking about?"

The Star Bunny made a… whatever you call the noises bunnies make. "The… the Undergrunts, boiyoing."

"The what?" We, quite frankly, had no idea what the stupid rabbit was talking about. I didn't, anyway.

"The Undergrunts. They're oversized moles with spiky helmets, and some of them have water cannons. …But they're more threatening than they sound, boiyoing! All of them rely on us poor bunnies as a food supply! We've all been disappearing one by one for weeks, and now there are only a few of us left! I'm guarding our hiding place since it's my turn to be a sentry, boiyoing…" It almost looked on the verge of tears, and honestly, who could blame it? It probably had witnessed its own friends being made into mole food, a thought that made me want to flee to the Starshroom faster than a speeding Yoshi!

Mailtoad petted the bunny. "Everything's going to be all right. We're actually seasoned explorers!"

"We call ourselves the Toad Brigade!" Sunshine chimed in.

"Okay, guys, the coast is clear! Boiyoing!" The Bunny shouted up to the top of the tree, and bunnies as well as a whole bunch of anthropomorphic bees (…I'm just as confused as you are.) slid down the trunk to greet us. The huge swarm of white, yellow, and black engulfed the area near the tree as they were all excited to see famed explorers.

Blues murmured something under his breath to us. "No wonder they're such easy pickings! They immediately trusted us without any evidence to back up our claims!"

"Maybe they're just really nice!" Sunshine suggested, and then petted a couple more rabbits. "See? If bunnies could purr, they definitely would be right now!"

One of the bees, with a spear in his hand, spiky fangs, and only four limbs, flew towards us, his wings struggling to keep him afloat in the relentless downpour. "With your help, I think we could inspire these suckers to grow backbones and finally drive the Undergrunt Gunner commanding the rest of the undergrunts out. We all know that we can't go on living like this. …Sorry, I guess I haven't introduced myself. I'm referred to by my people as Soldier #52, since we prefer to think of ourselves as servile folk without much of an identity. Suppresses the chance of rebellion, I guess."

"Oh, yeah! I think I might have mailed a letter between you and the presiding ruler of Honeyhive Galaxy!" Mailtoad pulled a mailing list out of his bag and leafed through it with impressive dexterity. "Yup. So what can we do to motivate them?"

Soldier #52 looked off behind us, and then his pitch-black eyes met ours. "I don't know. Just yell out an encouraging war cry and they'll probably follow you. The Undergrunt Gunner station is on the grounds just above where the waterfall meets the earth. Lead them with pride!" He then handed the already pickax-wielding Banktoad a spear without any sort of second thought.

With a great amount of pride in each heavy step as Soldier #52 had asked, Banktoad walked to the front of the mob of adorable creatures. "Eh… _Let's go beat a mole into the ground with spears!_" He thrust both of his weapons into the air, arousing cheers from all of the animals. Once they all crowded behind him, he marched onward toward what appeared to be a distant waterfall so far away that any noise made by it was drowned out by the rain shower.

Mailtoad sighed. "I guess we might as well follow." It was clear that none of us had expected Banktoad's "war cry" to actually help, but if it meant we wouldn't have to face the problem alone, we had no objections. Thus, it was back to marching across sopping wet leaves for us. By this point my toes were pretty much ice blocks.

As we approached the waterfall, a blue cannon crept into our field of vision. It had a cockpit with… A bluish-green mole sitting at the top, spiked helmet balanced atop its lofty head. Despite it seeming fairly collected and without an expression that was too angered, those eyes… _Why do they keep staring at me?_ I thought. _Can it see me? That's the only explanation I can think of… but is there any way to tell?_

Banktoad turned to the group following him, focusing particularly on my crew and I, and winked. "Shall we charge that poor sucker?" He swung his pickax a couple times and was met with… yet another roaring cheer? Seriously, where _did_ he learn to motivate people just by sounding cool?

With that, we all charged at the fiend that had been looming over these creatures for days. Except for Banktoad, my Brigade just stayed to the back of the action and hoped the riled-up masses could handle the problem. Everything changed, however, when the Gunner noticed us. Its fur started glowing a demonic red color, and the eyes that I felt were frightening before rolled into the back of its head, leaving nothing except a pure, yellow gaze. Had my crew not been watching, I would have high-tailed it out of there…

Apparently the gunner was a "shoot first, ask questions later" kind of mole, except without the part about asking questions. (Though, in hindsight, I wouldn't have tried to reason with a charging crowd either.) With the single touch of a button, jets of water shot through the air, threatening to hit our forces. Those who were hit were fine, though; after all, they were just bubbles when you got right down to it. Also, the cannon started emitting an ominous red radiation just like its user, though I wasn't sure exactly how.

The bees were the ones who weakened the machine first, and had the most straightforward strategy: just spread out around its cockpit and jab at it repeatedly with spears. Surprisingly, it worked just fine. Shards of broken glass flew all over, and while they left tiny scratches on some of the attackers, they still continued to strike repeatedly.

Amidst all of the chaos of bees and bunnies, Banktoad managed to find his way back to us. "I think our work here is done. They'll be able to handle this." He grinned a bit, and seemed to be covering up a part of his arm with his hand. Sunshine wanted to shake his hand, so he grabbed it from his arm, only to find that there was a large red mark where he had covered it. "I got hit by one of the bubbles. They're not so whimsical when they're being shot by a crazy animal."

"…Should we report back to Rosalina?" Blues adjusted his glasses.

Banktoad's smile widened. "I don't see why not!" He left the spear Soldier #52 had given him lying on the ground as we began retracing our steps to the Starshroom. I turned around and saw an explosion coming from where the gunner had been, and walked away with a feeling of triumph despite not actually helping with its defeat, especially Banktoad.

Just as we neared the top of the hill, we could feel the ground starting to heave under our feet, and the last of the rainclouds cleared, revealing a blinding sun that almost seemed to mock our current condition. We saw the bees and bunnies fleeing from something (maybe the cause of the tremors?) as the wooden foundations of the structure above us started to break. Naturally, we all entered the same shivering position we always did whenever we'd encounter anything too adverse.

"I wanna go home!" Sunshine wailed, sweat drops flying off his mushroom cap.

"Stay down! You won't fall over that way!" Blues took the hands of Mailtoad and I as we got down on our stomachs and hoped everything would pass soon. Several minutes passed…

When I looked up in the direction of the waterfall again, I saw a mole burrowing through the ground with half of its torso above the surface. This one was different; it was **huge.** On top of that, it had the same unsettling color of fur as the previous gunner without even being provoked, eyes that burned with a rage nobody could fully comprehend, and long, bushy white eyebrows.

Without even saying a word to each other, we all knew that we had to escape. We looked down the hill, trying to find a way back down… I considered just sliding down, but a pool of water had collected at the bottom from the torrential downpour, and our clothes were already soaked and freezing enough as it is without taking a swim. While pondering, I felt a tug on my sleeve. I turned my head to where it came from and saw Sunshine, trembling even more. "What's wrong, Sunny?"

Only three words could escape his shaky lips.

"_The monster's coming._"

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><p><em>((Author's Note: This was my first attempt at a chapter with lots of action in it, so please let me know how it turned out and suggest ways I can improve! Also, I would like to give a Grand Star-sized thanks to Vivalahomestar, who was kind enough to write a review! Until next time, may the stars shine down on you!))<em>


	4. Chapter 4, Brawling with Burrows

**Chapter 4, Brawling with Burrows**

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><p>I didn't bother swinging my head up to see what Sunshine was talking about, because I knew exactly what it was. (I didn't know what to call him at the time; I later found out that his name is Major Burrows.) Instead, I pushed everyone sliding down the hill and then jumped down myself, landing squarely in the icy pool below.<p>

Blues peeked his head out from under the surface and glared at me, his glasses completely doused in droplets. "Captain, was pushing us down a hill into a freezing puddle really the _only_ solution you could think of?"

Luckily, Mailtoad made a rebuttal as he paddled toward us. "That thing did look dangerous, though. If I had to make a guess, I'd say that it's avenging the gunner the others attacked."

"I guess you're right. My theory is that it's the leader of them. After all, based on all of the monsters we've seen, the largest always seems to be in charge of something." Blues pulled himself onto the leaf-covered dry land and helped us all out with him. "Something tells me he's going to be able to reach us down here, though. How about some of us attack while the rest look for some sort of weakness? You know, like the attacks Mario always used!"

"I'll face up to it-!"

"_No. _You can't even fight off a Luma without running away." Blues pointed at me after my comment, and my heart sank at the fact that my crew was starting to doubt my decisions. "You go find somewhere to watch from and see if anything we do could prove to be an advantage. Mailtoad, could you go with him?"

Mailtoad saluted him. "With pleasure!" After lowering his hand, he murmured under his breath, "Geez, sometimes I wonder who the _real_ leader is."

"Sunshine, Banktoad, you're both going with me. …To fight the giant mole that could probably eat us." Blues' knees looked ready to buckle, yet he kept his head up and climbed a few feet up the large flower from before, not enough to be launched but just enough to have a better view of the hill.

In the meantime, I led my partner Mailtoad up a beaten dirt path to where the Starshroom had landed. I kept looking behind me to make sure there weren't any moles coming after us. "You know what? Maybe we_ would_ be better off searching for a weakness. After all, that thing looked pretty indestructible…"

"Yeah, whatever." Mailtoad hopped on top of the Starshroom and crawled in the door, grabbing the two spare pickaxes we kept in there. "Catch!" He tossed one to me, and the blade nearly embedded itself in my head, but I gripped its handle at the last second, leaving the blade carefully dangling in the air.

I found a nearby swing made of vines and climbed to where it dangled from, the leafy vines nearly slipping out of my hands several times. "This looks like a good place! …If the crew gets hurt or something, we'll just go after them!"

Mailtoad instantly followed, not slipping up quite as often as I had on the ascent, and sat beside me. "Don't worry about not getting chosen to fight," He chuckled, "Blues just wanted to make sure you won't have nightmares tonight!" It would've made me feel a whole lot better had I not heard his murmur from before. We watched intently as the rest of the brigade stood at the foot of the hill, Blues keeping a close watch. Their voices were barely audible, but we could make out most of what they were saying.

"You know, Blues, that flower really compliments you!" Sunshine plopped down on the ground next to the flower while letting out an immense yawn.

Blues sighed. "Are you forgetting about the mammal of death that's threatening to maim us or worse?" His knuckles appeared to be pale from keeping a tight grip on the stem, but his expression and voice showed no signs of it being painful.

Sunny glared at him as he sprawled out on the expanse of moist leaves. "Pardon me for noticing…"

"Am I the only one who's kind of suspicious of all of this? That thing was chasing us before, and it's suddenly disappeared! Maybe we should find a better place to prepare ourselves for an encounter." Banktoad suggested, walking next to where Sunshine looked ready to pass out.

Of course, he was completely right. The mole seemed to have retreated into the ground without a trace. "We'll wait here. Moving would just let our guard down." Blues wiped some of the remaining moisture off of his glasses. The following wait felt like forever, and yet the thought of something amiss still loomed in the air…

Suddenly, the dirt opened up again, and Burrows came barreling out of the side of the hill!

"_Aaaugh!_" Blues used the flower to fling himself out of the way.

Banktoad took a deep gulp of air before charging after it, while Sunshine had other plans. "Don't hurt me!" Sunny sprinted away, his light footsteps only causing small crunches in the leaves as a tiny tear streamed down his face.

Of course, Banktoad wasn't too pleased with being left to deal with the monstrosity alone, but he tightened his grip on his weapon and flung it in the direction of his target. I could see the light reflecting off his pick as it swung past the mole, just barely missing him. The mole kept burying and unearthing himself as my crew began running away, trying desperately to find an opportunity to strike and failing miserably. Their chase continued down the path near the Starshroom, Blues landing next to him from his flight on the flower stem.

"I'll try to hit it again! Blues, you find Sunshine and help him calm down!" Banktoad bolted back in the direction of Burrows, the heavy pickax firmly placed in his hands, and he swung it so hard that it caused him to spin around a bit and nearly trip. Somehow the mole avoided his attack yet again, only this time he grabbed Banktoad and flung him to the ground with a deafening _thud_ before going after the other two. It was around this point that the small debris he flung into the air as he dug started hitting my face, and I coughed a little.

"Watch out, Blues! That thing's behind you!" Mailtoad and I screamed.

Blues turned around from where he had been comforting a crying Sunshine, seeing the beast approaching them at full speed. He threw Sunshine out of the way and made his way forward to where Burrows charged in a mad dash.

Slightly enraged by Blues's efforts, the mole grabbed him, scored his arm a bit with his claws, and tossed him aside. Only Sunny remained standing at this point; the other two were too weakened to stand.

Looking at my pickaxe, I knew I had to help him out. He wouldn't be able to handle fighting that thing as much as Blues and Banktoad had.

As I got up from my sitting position to throw him my weapon, my body painfully reminded me that my knee had been hurt back at the observatory. It made some horrible snapping sound, and before I knew it I was plummeting to the ground like a rock. My face met with it just as it had when we first explored the place and I dropped the pick elsewhere. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Burrows... jumping up? After that, I saw him wandering around in a daze before finally embedding himself in the earth once more. _…Of course! That must be his weakness! But what was that ground-hitting called again?_ I waved my hand, and the others took notice. "You have to, err… **ker-thwomp**!"

Mailtoad hopped down after me and helped me up. "Man, I'd hoped that knee would heal quicker…" He turned to the rest of the group. "You heard the Captain!"

Sunshine was the first to react; seeing the mole's silly walk had reinforced his confidence. He sprinted over to Burrows, a slight skip in each of his steps, and flung himself through the air as soon as he was about a yard away. "Bye!" He waved his hand whimsically and then thrust himself down as quickly as he could, creating a slight tremor in the ground that sent Burrows skyward once again. He then skipped back to the Starshroom.

Although he was still getting over the fall he had, Banktoad got up and reclaimed his weapon, his hand now bruised. "Not so dangerous now!" With that, he gave another swing, this time making full contact with the enemy.

Burrows wailed in pain, scratching the area where he'd been whacked briefly, and then returned to the ground, throwing yet another cloud of dust into the humid, sticky atmosphere.

"Banktoad and I will try to hit him some more! You guys can watch to make sure we don't get hurt!" Mailtoad jumped into the air and hit the ground again, followed by another pickax swing.

This time, however, Burrows' fur started emanating a horrible red glow, and I watched as his eyes rolled back inside his head just as the Undergrunt Gunner's had. Nothing was there but a yellow, crippling stare, and steam rose off the helmet he was wearing.

Mailtoad shivered a bit, but threw himself back into the fight, sprinting away from the beast and waiting for another opportunity to ker-thwomp him out of the ground. He nimbly swerved down the path alongside Banktoad, Burrows lumbering after him, before hitting the ground.

"Nice job!" Banktoad high-fived his friend, a smile spreading across his face.

However… Burrows wasn't quite ready to give up. Rather than going back into the confused state he had before, he plunged back down into the depths of the earth. Before we could react in any way, he was thrusting himself straight at us in a blind fury. As he chased Banktoad and Mailtoad down the path, I could feel debris the size of my hand dealing one blow after another to me.

Blues, apparently wanting to help them by endangering me, picked me up and threw me without even telling me about it. My heart's beating skyrocketed horribly as I tried to put together what was happening. I barely had enough time to see the exhausted look on his face before I was hurtling through the air. The wind swerved past my face, blowing the remaining drops on it from my time out in the rain past my cheeks. There was only one thing left to do at this point.

I brought my feet firmly into the ground, launching Burrows up one last time, and watched as Banktoad cemented the final blow with his pickax.

…The mole disappeared without a trace, save for a bit of lavender-colored smoke that dissipated within seconds.

"Huh? What was that?" Banktoad looked around, a stunned look on his face.

Mailtoad stepped up. "Mario told me that sometimes, after fighting a really tough opponent, it would just disappear."

"Really? That's cool…" I sighed. "And thanks, Blues, for nearly giving me a heart attack."

Blues merely grinned. "Oh, come on, Captain! I'm sure you're very excited about getting to help!" He glanced over to the Starshroom, which Sunshine sleepily sat atop. "I suppose we should get going now. If the residents have any thanks for us, they'll just send us a letter. Besides, I feel like it's getting late, even though it's the middle of the day here," With that, we all silently agreed to head back and walked down the road to the Starshroom.

Sunshine slid away from where had had been sitting, hit the ground, and stared at us. "You guys were so cool! I wish I could have helped! …Well, maybe I could have, but oh well!" He then climbed back up to the top of the ship and lifted open the hatch with both hands. "Go ahead!"

We all climbed in and got settled. Sunny was out like a light the moment we sat down, and Mailtoad agreed to pilot the Starshroom during our little power nap. As he said, "You probably need it a load more than I do!"

I pulled a blanket out of my backpack and used it to cover all of us as we sprawled out on the chilly steel floor. Almost instantly, I dozed off.

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><p>My head seemed to dream on and off throughout the trip, despite it probably only being about an hour. What I remember most was a brief vision about a gleaming object on the horizon. I had been standing in the middle of a field in this dream, with the tall grass dancing about my waist. The sky was completely dark except for the object, completely devoid of any stars.<p>

_What's that?_ I wondered. Despite the idea that it might be dangerous popping into my mind, I still found myself bounding across the plain, each step pounding the vegetation into the ground and sending little puffs of dust flying into the air. For a vision, the air felt strangely realistic, brushing past my mushroom cap with a delightful, cool quality.

When I reached the crest of the hill, I could see an entire expanse of swaying brush and wildflowers exploding in bloom before me. What's more, I noticed it all overshadowed by a speck of brilliant light. Despite its overpowering nature, I couldn't help but reach out for it, my tiny arms struggling to reach it. I secured it firmly in my hand, and the glow died down, revealing two black curvatures engraved onto its metallic surface.

It was a Power Star.

Mario had always come back from his adventures in space with one of those suckers in hand. They were used to fuel Starships, mainly, but could also be used for countless other purposes, like protecting Princess Peach's Castle with their sacred power, or even as collectibles in the games Mario and his friends played. The closest I'd ever come to claiming one for myself had been in Slimy Spring Galaxy, a place I'd gone to without my crew's knowledge. Unfortunately, I completely fumbled by falling into the treasure chest it had been in, and had to wait for Mario to save me. My crew hadn't learned about it since, and I planned to keep it that way.

As I tuned back into the dream from my memories of past excursions, I could see my reflection in its golden shape, just before it started glowing again. The light became like that of a star, and then a billion stars. Yet, for the brightness enveloping me, I felt oddly cold. …That's all I could remember about the dream.

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><p>"We're here!"<p>

The words echoed through my head as I jolted awake to the reality of the Starshroom. Blues and Banktoad were the next to wake up, followed by the perpetually-sleepy Sunshine.

Mailtoad helped me pack the blanket back into my backpack as I remained in the haze I always seemed to enter after waking up. "Not much of a morning person as always, I take it?" He chuckled as he finished folding it up, "I'll check your pack for you. Could you fly the Starshroom while I do that? The Observatory's in plain sight now."

"With pleasure!" As Mailtoad slipped the backpack off my shoulders, I stood in front of one of the control panels, entered the combination that let me operate it, and increased its speed significantly, nearly causing my crew to fall over. As I maintained the ship's velocity, I found my eyes attracted once more to the various clusters of stars. I wasn't even sure where my fascination with space came from. There was just some sort of unseen force that seemed to guide me further into the cosmos. In fact, for about five minutes I zoned out and fantasized about exploring them all.

The shout that came from Mailtoad snapped me back into reality. "Let's see… We have the blanket, the map of our home planet, a package of Star Bits, a pickax, a notebook, and a pen."

"Thanks." I put it back on as I let Mailtoad take over.

Blues called, "Do you want to watch Sunshine play cards? He's demanding a rematch with Banktoad."

"That's because he cheated me out of yummy sweets!" Sunshine raged, sloppily shuffling the deck.

I plopped down on one of the chairs surrounding the mushroom-like table in the center of the ship as Banktoad and Sunny proceeded to duke it out with playing cards. Since they were so focused on the game, I decided to keep score in the notebook I kept in my backpack. The book was intended to be a log of all our adventures, but we usually didn't write much more down than where we went. Thus, I decided to write a bit more as I kept track of the score in the margin:

_Well, today we made our first official exploration in a long while. It was to Gold Leaf Galaxy. We fought a mole with a cannon there, though with a little help from the locals, and I faced off against a huge one. They both disappeared, so I'd say that they're gone for now. One thing still bothers me, though. Before we left, Polari said that something had "come up," and didn't tell us about it. What is he keeping from us? Guess we'll find out when we get back._

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><p><em>((Author's Note: This one has been the most difficult to write thus far, due to trying to keep the intensity of the scenes without compromising attention to detail. I'm not sure of the overall quality of this chapter, so please review and give me some constructive criticism! Until next time, may the stars shine down on you!))<em>


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